CHILDREN'S FURNITURE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20036, 18 September 1930, Page 6

CHILDREN'S FURNITURE.

PERIOD REPRODUCTIONS. Children's furniture is receiving ex* port attention just now, in America, the basic idea being to cultivate a taste for worth-while furnishings, rather than tho superficial and sometimes even grotesque nursery type. Authentic reproductions of certain period furniture, sealed down for children's use, have proved practical as well as interesting, and, in many instances,- instructive. The periods especially adapted to this reproduction in miniapre are early American, eighteenth century English, and French provincial, these all being of « simple and durable type, not demand? ing the mpst highly polished woods that are too easily defaced. The items drawn from these periods include essential nursery furnishings, such as beds, tables, desks, chests of drawers, settles. Even a dignified Baby Stuart high chair, as shown in a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, h«B been accurately reproduced by one furniture firm and developed in walnut or solid oak, Bedroom Assembled. An important shop recently assembled an Early American bedroom for a child's use, The four-poster, bed with tester top was large enough for the average child of seven or eight, though suited also to the use of a child just graduated from the crib. There was a Martha Washington bed table and upholstered chair, chest of drawers and secretary, Each piece was an authentic reproduction and of permanent utility value, as, with the exception pf the bed, the furnishings would not be inappropriate in any informal room of an adult. This idea of permanent value adds interest to these miniature reproduce tions, as they need never he discarded even after serving their original purpose. Further to meet this practical demand for permanency, an Early American bedroom set is offered with only the bed scaled down to fit a child. The other units include a lowboy, a desk and chest, in addition to the typical bedroom pieces, all o| small adult sue. Modern decorator and designers of children's furnishings have a sound rev son as a basis for their present work. They believe that a ehild should be surrounded with beautiful things early in life and the historical interest of the furnishings explained from time to time in simple, story-like fashion. A certain dignity, even in nursery equipment, has been found to inculcate habits of order and general tidiness, while the appropriate size and height of children's chairs result in natural ease and graee of posture.